Richard is asked to exchange some vis with the pawnbrokers of House Mercere; Hygwald wants to rid himself of Wiht's Tongue (40p of Animal, for which he receives 4 v.t. and 12 v.f.), and 20 pawns of the covenant's Herbam (exchanged for 2 v.t. and 6 v.f.)
The Tenth Hide: Francis is approached by a small delegation from Paddesham; they have been give a piece of parchment and told what it says, but they would like this to be verified. The document was given to them by the Priory of St Marcellus (Br. Robert specifically), and seems to be the deeds that the village is enserfed to the Priory lands, and that all the villagers - who thought they were freemen - are actually descended from the priory's serfs, and thus serfs themselves. Naturally, upon learning this (and the fact that Francis believes it is legally sound) does not go down too well with Paddesham; but is all too familiar. Apparently, similar writs have been showed to a number of local villages; such that when the priory was founded they owned 3 hides of land, now they own 9 (and Paddesham will be the tenth). after careful examination of the document, Francis was of the opinion that it was a fake. The legal terms and the style of Latin did not match between the sections, and he believed that a section had been scraped off an original writ and replaced with new text. Consequently, when Br. Robert arrived to claim the dues owed to the priory, Francis confronted him and he backed down, agreeing to leave Paddesham alone.
Sins of the Father: Lucas and Drusilla are in Berwick collecting supplies, when Drusilla becomes separated from her master, and is nowhere to be found. Lucas searches to no avail, but finds a mad man who claims to have seen Drusilla entering a church with Lucas's 'wife'. The loon did not know which church, but this narrowed down the search; however, by this time it was late, and so Lucas ensconced himself in a tavern to continue the search on the following day. That night he hears a minstrel sing a ballad about his long-lost son, who he hasn't seen for seven years, stolen away from him at the age of five. Surmising from the minstrel's red hair that the son could be Rufus, Lucas sends the minstrel up to the covenant with one of the grogs to meet with Hygwald.
By mid-morning Lucas reaches St Barthold's Church in his search for Drusilla. The priest there has indeed seen a lost girl matching Drusilla's description. She had been collected earlier that morning by the sisters of St Hilda's convent, who appeared to know that Drusilla was going to be at the church. Lucas begins to plan how to break into the convent and rescue Drusilla.
Meanwhile, Hygwald is interviewing the minstrel. Upon inspection, his story seems to hold up true, and the timing is certainly right for the son to be Rufus. Andrew (the minstrel) claims that an apothecary in Berwick had stolen the child from him, but he was well-thought of in the town, and he could never prove the charges. Hygwald allows Rufus and Andrew to meet, but as soon as father and son touch hands, both disappear in a cloud of sulphurous smoke.
Halfgrim, in the meantime, is dallying with ladies of negotiable affection. After receiving what he has paid for, the 'lady' becomes Andrew before his eyes, and lays down the situation. He claims to have Rufus, but it is not him whom he wants - it is Drusilla, his real daughter. He demands, in return for Rufus's safe return, seven years of Drusilla's life. Halfgrim is to impart that information to the magi, and have them bring Drusilla here in two day's time for the swap. The 'man' then disappears. Naturally, Lucas is not inclined to turn over his apprentice (and he doesn't actually have her at the moment anyway), so they plan a more violent resolution to the situation. First, however, Badda is asked to check out the Apothecary's shop. She sneaks in at night, and discovers a basement filled with some interesting (perhaps occult) paraphenalia, but nothing more interesting.
When Andrew turns up with Rufus, he walks into a trap. The grogs are invisible, and the walls of the brothel are weakened for a fast escape. The demon (for that is what they surmise Andrew to be) cannot hold up against Lucas's assault, and is soon banished. Rufus is re-united with his master, and the matter is finalised by a trip down the coast to St Hildas, where they find Drusilla, all safe and willing to come home. (Unresolved: the Apothecary; who initially 'kidnapped' Drusilla?; who told the nuns where to find her?)
Argentaria Devourans: Richard reports that on his return to Faverloch from the north he found some silver nuggets in a stream. Silver nuggets can only mean a silver seam...Lucas rushes off to investigate, accompanied by Fariq, Aeddi, and Aaron. Following the stream to its source, they come across a group of workmen (probably miners) with one of the brothers of St Marcellus, and spend the night with them. Suspecting that they plan to harvest the mine themselves, Lucas magically weakens all of their tools, then leaves early to get a head start.
The stream issues from the mouth of a cave; which, after a short tunnel, opens into a natural cavern. There is silver throughout the cave, and both Aeddi and Aaron start to collect it. Lucas inspects the cavern more closely, and sees a resemblence of human figures in the stone columns of the cave. He also notices that Aeddi, Aaron and Fariq all seem a little greedy with respect to the silver, then feels a supernatural power get rebuffed by his parma. Lucas orders everyone out (with varying success, as their magically-induced greed wars with loyalty), but he is too late: the cave's mouth has closed. Lucas then enters into a dialogue with one of the 'statues' which begins to speak; but as soon as it becomes clear that the creature (which they are actually inside!) does not intend to let them leave, he gets more violent. He uses the magical pick axe to destroy sections of the cave. This is met with resistance; stone flies from the walls, explodes up from the ground, and engulfs the party; Fariq is sorely injured, but everyone receives wounds. The pick axe sinks into the earth, and in an attempt to retrieve it, Lucas breaks it; destroying its enchantment. While powerful, the creature is no match for Lucas's desructive magic, and he is eventually able to force his way out, along with the grogs. They decide not to inform the monk of the mine's danger on the way home.
Getting Away with Murder: The covenant receives a message from Prior Matthew of St Marcellus's. He asks for them to visit him on a matter of urgency, under the pretext of examining some books. It seems that the message is too late, for when Hygwald arrives at the priory, Matthew is dead; apparently dying in his sleep overnight. Brother Robert seems to have jumped into the prior's shoes, and is particularly unhelpful towards Hygwald. Brother Thomas approaches the magus with details of a conspiracy; apparently Matthew had been concerned about the influence that Robert had over the brothers of the priory, and how only Thomas and Theobald stayed loyal. Thomas has also uncovered a rumour that Robert is the son of the bishop of St Andrews.
Lucas joins Hygwald at the priory for the funeral. Before it taks place, the pair engineer the collapse of part of the priory's walls as a diversion, giving Lucas enough time to sneak into the chapel and speak with Matthew's ghost. However, the Divine aura proves much too strong for his attempted necromancy, and Matthew is buried before they are able to obtain the truth of the matter. However, they strongly suspect that Brother Robert was instrumental in Prior Matthew's death, and are not surprised to hear of his elevation to Prior in the Spring.
The only thing of note to occur in this season is that one of the seed pods from the basilisk tree (see vis sources) is missing when it is time to harvest them.